Edited by @GillianFx
Afghanistan
The real sufferers of war are women and children. This article deals with the children affected by war. Children are left orphaned if their parents are killed, maimed or taken, if they are “lucky” enough to survive they have to fend for themselves, leaving them susceptible to sexual and physical abuse, trafficking and poverty.
Last winter, more than 100 children died in the cold weather in the numerous refugee camps that surround the Afghan capital. Over 10,000 displaced people flock to the Qambar refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul. The irony here is that the camp is located less than 20km (12 miles) from the presidential palace, the US embassy, NATO headquarters and the Offices of International Organizations overseeing billions of dollars in aid to the country.
Minister of Refugees and Repatriations Jamaher Anwari says the government is doing all it can to help.
Afghanistan has received $58bn (£36bn) in aid over the past 10 years, at least $3.5bn (£2.17bn) of which was in humanitarian aid. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Protection Officer Douglas DI Salvo told the BBC that the country continues to be challenged by conflict, poverty and lack of development.
Recently the people of Camp Qambar had to endure another tragedy, a four-year-old girl named Sabeah from Helmand province died as a result of the harsh winter.
She was the second child to die in the space of a week.
“We are relying on God and good luck to survive this winter,” said one refugee.
My opinion: Where is most of the money going? Shouldn’t most of the money go towards protecting the nation’s most valuable resources… the children? If this was a corporate business in the US or UK it would surely be investigated. To me it seems that the country is challenged as much by corruption as it is by conflict.
Pakistan.
Northern Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) is a hotbed of violence. Residents blame the Pakistan military and the Taliban in equal measure for reducing the education system to rubble. The Taliban’s intolerance of any kind of “modern” education, which they believe to be “anti-Islamic”, coupled with the destruction or occupation of scores of school buildings for military purposes, has robbed tens of thousands of children of their right to decent schooling. Their campaign has left 12,000 children idle, including more than 3,800 girls.
My opinion: Human trafficking is in the spotlight these days. Prevention starts with protecting the vulnerable.
Source: BBC News, Guardian UK
